Fasteners of various types for securing a bolt to a frame have been known for many years. Generally, they provide a means of securing the bolt to a frame prior to installation or a nut onto the bolt when such is desired for convenience such as for providing a means of positioning and holding the bolt in difficult-to-reach locations and a variety of other reasons. Such fasteners are generally distinguished by their respective ability to enable or to prevent relative rotation between the fastener and the bolt and consequently between the bolt and the frame to which the fastener is secured.
Examples of fasteners that permit relative rotation between the fastener and the bolt are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,630,424; 2,605,806; 2,654,411; and 3,602,284, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,424 discloses a clip for rotatably securing an adjusting screw to a washing machine wringer, the clip requires two opposed hooked flanges which would not be suitable where only one edge of a frame to which a bolt is to be secured is available. The fastening device of U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,806 requires two opposed spring flanges to rotatably secure a bolt to a frame by extending through the same opening in the frame through which the bolt is to be received and necessarily requires that the opening be large enough to receive both the bolt and the flanges. U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,411 discloses a clip for rotatably securing a bolt to a frame that requires both an annular groove in the bolt shank and that the frame have an offset in order for the clip to work. A spring wire screwshaft retainer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,284 that requires two doubly bent limbs and an annular groove in the screw shank and a "T" shaped groove in the structure to which the screw is rotatably secured in order to work.
Examples of types of fasteners used to fixedly secure a bolt to a frame and prevent rotation between the fastener and the bolt are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,528,777; 2,748,906; 2,899,700; and 3,050,097, the respective disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 1,528,777 discloses a nut and bolt locking device that features a pair of opposed upwardly projecting members that are adapted to fit in a tee slot to prevent rotation of a bolt assembly. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,906 discloses a fastening device that is able to be clipped onto the edge of a frame, the device must be pressed on from a side of the frame and requires opposed abutting edges to prevent rotation of the bolt. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,700 discloses a means for snapping a caster onto a bolt head, the caster requires a recess for preventing relative rotation between the caster and the bolt. U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,097 discloses a snap-in bolt retainer that utilizes a complex arrangement of tabs and tangs to secure the fastener to an opening in a frame that is required to have the same shape as the fastener and which also prevents the fastener from rotating with respect to the fastener and the frame when the fastener is secured to the frame opening.
It is evident from the above that a need exists to provide a simple and low cost fastener that by means of a simple snapping action is able, dependent on the type of bolt used, to rotatably or non-rotatably secure a bolt to a frame through an aperture therethrough and which does not require a specially shaped opening through the frame and does not require special machining of the bolt.